In The Heart Of a Dragon
by XxhoneyleafxX
Summary: Alex once quoted – "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Is all this really a choice? Or are their paths set in stone, along with the prophecy they will eventually drag down with them when the time comes?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Soo… this is it, I guess. I've been working on idea for a while, and this is where it took me. I don't really know for sure where this could take me, so, here goes everything. **

**By the way, a lot of this fanfic will have plots eerily similar to Jake's life. This is because 1) it makes Jake feel more connected to my main character so it's easier to get them closer together in the form of brother/sisterly love, and 2) because I have the imagination equivalent to that of a Gorilla. Deal with it. ;)**

Full Summary

He, being Aaron Hunts, a star student of the Hunts Academy, was raised to believe that all magical creatures were bugs to be killed, but when his best friend turns out as to be a dragon, he starts to think that maybe they aren't all that bad. That's until he's sucked into a battle between three warring worlds, and he discovers the true darkness of The Heart of a Dragon. As Alex once said – You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Is all this really a choice? Or are their paths set in stone, along with the prophecy they will eventually drag down with them when the time comes?

~~xXx~~

_**Chapter 1**_

~~xXx~~

**Two Years Ago**

Blood red eyes, belonging to an anonymous figure dressed in black, peered at Jake as he walked away. The figure pulled the hood of his jacket more over his messy hair, trailing Jake down a couple more blocks.

_The boy is a dragon,_ he thought, noting Jake using Eye of the Dragon to search him out. But the boy hid skillfully, blending into the crowds of Manhattan. Dragons knew dragons. Maybe this certain dragon would lead him to another certain dragon. One he'd been searching for for a while now.

~~xXx~~

Jake looked back as soon he suddenly got that feeling of someone's eyes on him. It was gone in the instant his eyes scanned the area. Yet as he turned once more to get to Gramp's shop for some more of the dreaded dragon training, he once again got that feeling of an eerie presence that seemed to have been haunting him the past few hours. He shook the feeling off, blaming the nervousness on the Dark Dragon, which he'd defeated a couple months back. Of course he'd be on his toes for at least the next month or so, fearful of the Dark Dragon somehow resurrecting. After all, he'd already checked for anything suspicious with his Eye of the Dragon, and so far, the results stated that he was just being paranoid. Paranoia, people. You have _got_ to love it. Note the heavy sarcasm.

After his success in beating the Dark Dragon – with the help of Rose, of course – leaving her to fulfill his job as the American Dragon hadn't been easy, not by the slightest. So he'd definitely had a hard time letting go of Rose to return to his hometown, but he had spent the rest of his time at Hong Kong savoring the fact that Rose was just… _there_. There and next to him. And not sucked up into a bleak, ominous, never-ending vortex of eternal darkness, save the few hours every thousand years. So they'd made the best of those last few days together by spending them on their dates, which was a time spent purely on relaxing, him from dragon business and her from school.

Now he was stuck back in New York City, reluctantly struggling through 8th grade like any other 14 year old. They still kept in touch, however, through calls and live video chats – thank god for webcams! And if there was ever a case of an emergency or he just really wanted to see her, there was always the option of another "Family Visit to Mom's Side".

He sighed, shaking his head lightly to get all those memories out of his head. Deciding skateboarding would help distract him, he clipped on his helmet and dropped the skateboard, which had been previously bunking under his arm. He hopped on and his board worked its magic. Soon, he was dashing through the streets of Manhattan, all worries left behind. He seemed to arrive at Gramp's shop faster than he would've liked; he wanted to skateboard some more.

As he opened the door, he heard a metallic clatter, accompanied by a yelp in an alleyway next to the shop, and he froze. Letting go of the doorway, he peeked into the alleyway to see a girl a couple years younger than him, with auburn-colored eyes and whitish-blond hair with dark blue highlights, and a trash can lid that had probably produced the clatter sound. As soon as he spotted her, a silvery tail – a _scaly_ silvery tail – came from behind the dumpster and rapidly snaked around the girl's waist, pulling her behind it. Alarmed, Jake immediately started to run towards the dumpster. "Dragon up!"

He expected to see some sort of magical creature attacking the girl, but he was completely and utterly shocked when he saw two girls, a boy, and a kitten, which was mewing feebly, hiding from him. One of the two girls was the girl he saw being pulled back. The scaly tail was on her mouth, silencing her. The tail belonged to the boy, who seemed to be the same age as Jake, and held the same facial features as her. However, the boy seemed to be an albino, with silvery white hair he couldn't see clearly due to the hood pulled over his hair. His eyes were a vibrant red, which almost seemed to burn faintly with a hidden fire. He had on a black hoodie and black skinny jeans, which clashed with his hair.

The last girl was huddled close to the boy, clutching his hoodie tightly with her small hands. She seemed younger than the rest, about nine years of age. Her light, coppery brown hair was held up with a black pin shaped to be a crown, and her light blue eyes stared up almost hungrily at Jake. Her gaze scared him a bit, reminding him of a Strigoi's hard look.

They stayed there like that for a couple of seconds, frozen as they wondered what to do with the situation. Jake didn't know how to react. Homeless kids weren't much of a surprise to him, being raised in New York, but one of these kids was a _dragon_. Dragon kids were supposed to have a master to train them, and they were supposed to be assigned a piece of land to protect. More importantly, dragons were _respected_. The Dragon Council wouldn't ever let a dragon student go on with no home to go to.

In a flash, the boy reacted first, taking advantage of Jake being preoccupied by his own thoughts. He spread his dragon wings as he shoved Jake back with his tail. It was tipped with a scorpion's stinger, which was stained on the tip with a light baby blue. He glared at Jake, spreading his wings to full length, which was pretty dang wide. They seemed light and moved easily, almost looking like thin fabric at times.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but a flash of uncertainty crossed his face as he decided against it. Instead, he striked out with his tail again, and this time it was positioned to kill, the point aiming straight at Jake's face.

"Whoa, wouldn't wanna ruin _this_ pretty face," He smirked, dodging. The smug grin was wiped of his face, though, when the first attack was followed by a dozen high-speed attacks, all from his tail.

"Why're ya fightin' me? I'm da Am Drag! Ya know, the protector of all magical creatures? Yeah, _that_ one! Now stop fightin' me and tell me what's wrong!" Jake protested, flying out of the way of the boy's attacks.

The boy didn't seem to hesitate by the slightest as he continued to strike, though. He was silently flying in the air, his eyes unreadable as he sent his tail to send attack after attack, meaning Jake had to evade each attack, not risking blocking it in case the scorpion-like tail functioned anything like the original thing.

They went on for a while like that, and Jake noted that this dragon had no doubt been trained. He wasn't really all that strong, but the speed of his tail made up for all that. He was swift and each strike missed by only a hair length as Jake swished out of the way to evade the boy's attacks. That kind of speed couldn't just have been natural talent.

'Dodge left, duck, move my tail out of the way,' Jake thought, any other thought moved aside to give his full concentration on not being violently impaled. 'Move back, fly higher, its coming from the right, so dodge le-' His thought was cut off as a blue dragon hand darted out to grab the silvery tail mid-strike.

"I-yah! What is the _meaning_ of this, Jake?"

The boy's dragon tail disappeared as Lao Shi's voice was heard. He turned around, and his face brightened up. His wings vanished soon after. He turned to face the old man and gave a respectful short bow.

The other girl, the one with blond hair, poked her head out from behind her hiding place. She grabbed the little girl's wrist and came out with a hopeful smile.

"Lao Shi! It's a pleasure to meet you!" She exclaimed, bowing as well. "We've been looking for you all over Manhattan. You were the only other dragon we could find information on in Alexander's master's books. Her eyes turned serious. "Would it be alright if we went in? We have a long story to tell."

~~xXx~~

Soon they were all down, Jake reclining on the sofa with a can of soda in his hand. Fu Dog was next to him, munching on a bag of chips. The kids sat on one side of a table facing his grandpa, who was sitting on the other side. The blue kitten was in the boy's hold, and he was running his hand gently through the kitten's fur.

"We came from Great Britain. We've lived there all our lives," The blond haired girl started. "And, by the way, I'm Lexi and this is Alex. Alex hasn't said much after all that's happened, though," she said rather sadly, motioning towards the silver haired boy.

"We're both twelve right now, twins. Nickel here is ten, or at least, that's what we decided on. Nickel, or Nikki, is short for Nichole, Lexi is short for Alexis, and Alex is short for Alexander," she explained.

She flashed Jake a sheepish grin. "Sorry about Alex attacking, by the way, we thought you were an enemy. You're probably wondering why, since dragons are supposed to get along most of the time. That relates to our story, so you'll find out soon enough.

"Our family was attacked by a dragon about a month ago. Alex and I were coming back from the park. It was our birthday, December 20th, so our parents had been apparently setting up a surprise party, telling us to go play in the park while they secretly got ready for the party. By the time we got home, our mom and dad were brutally murdered, and Alex's dragon master, Jason, was being finished off by a dragon. In the end, the dragon left before attacking us, probably because the guests for the party would be coming soon. The only thing left alive in the room besides us was the blue kitten. It was supposed to be Alex's birthday present. Mine was a necklace." Alex's face remained emotionless and hard, while Lexi's eyes started to shine with tears. Jake took notice of the necklace on the girl's neck. The chain was a swirl of gold and silver, and there was a golden dragon resting on the silver character for dragon in traditional Chinese, 龍, and the golden tail of the dragon went all the way around in a circle with the character in the middle.

She sniffled, before going on.

"The people invited to the party, family members and friends, came in to see a dazed Alex clinging to her dragon master's shirt and me crying my eyes out over our mom's dead body. Both of us were soaked completely in the spilled blood, and the dagger that had been in Jason had been in Alex's hand from when he pulled it out.

"No matter how anyone saw it, it would seem like Alex had murdered our family and Jason, and that I was crying over what he had done.

"So we ran away. I got up, took our presents, grabbed Alex's arm, and jumped out the window before the authorities had a chance to come. I couldn't go out the door, since it was blocked by a crowd of horrified people, and since I hadn't received any sign – or even the slightest hint at that matter – that I was going to get my dragon powers, I had to hope that Alex would snap out of the shock, get the message, and fly.

"He did, and the first place we went to was Jason's house. We were looking through his stuff for information on a dragon we can go to in search of help. There were many dragons in his files, but only one had the human identity and information on him, and that was you. On the file, it says that you were already found out by the Huntsclan, so apparently there was nothing to hide you from.

"For the past month, we've been looking all over New York City for you. We slept in the trees in Central Park, so that the authorities wouldn't find us. Almost got caught a couple of times," She said, laughing dryly. "We learned something from it, though. Found out climbing trees were illegal there!

"On our way, we found Nickel wandering around the city. She was biting humans she found walking around in Central Park at night and hid from the sun by day. She had no memory, but she knew she needed blood to survive and had to keep away from the sun. She's a Strigoi, by the way," she added when she noticed Jake's confused look.

"We took her with us and Alex gives limited amounts of her dragon blood to Nikki so that she can last longer without needing blood and go out into the sun. We named her Nickel, because of her copper colored hair.

"Now that we've found you, we're asking for help. Everyone in Britain thinks Alex is a murderer and we've lost everything we used to own," she finished.

Lao Shi took in a big breath. "You dragons are of Wyvern descent, are you not?" He asked, looking a bit nervous.

Lexi nodded, fingering her earring, which only hung on her left ear, not on her right. It was a small yellow dragon that sparkled like a diamond, but it had no arms, just feet, and the wings, which curved down to make an upside-down raindrop shape, were longer and larger than a normal dragon's. The tail hung down and a scorpion's stinger was on the end of it, meeting with the tips of the wings. Alex had the same yellow dragon hanging on a golden necklace. "You noticed Alex's tail, right? The barbed tail of a scorpion. That's the sure sign of an Elemental Wyvern. We also have the Crest."

Jake blinked, confusion written all over his face. "Say what? An Elemental what-now?"

Fu Dog nudged Jake. "Have you ever noticed Gramps in dragon form looks almost exactly the same as from legends of the Chinese Dragon? Or have you seen that you have very few, but still noticeable features of a Chinese Dragon as well? Well Gramps here is purely Chinese, which makes him take all the traits of a Chinese Dragon. But in your case, your dad is American. Therefore you take only select pieces of the Chinese Dragon.

"Alex, here, is both a pure-blooded dragon _and_ completely Wyvern. All in all, if he felt like it, you'd be dead in three seconds, kid. Flat. Agoo goo goo!"

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Oh really. Who said anything about him even _being_ a full dragon in the first place? He might have some human blood _somewhere_ in there," He countered, not ready to admit that a boy two years younger could kick his butt.

Lao Shi cleared his throat. "You would not understand, young dragon, but Wyverns are not allowed to, ahem, _mate,_ or fall in love, with anything other than another Wyvern. It keeps the bloodline pure. If you were a Wyvern, you wouldn't be allowed to ever come in any sort of intimate contact with Rose. In fact, you'd be engaged to another Wyvern once you were born and get married off to your fiancé by the time you were 18."

Jake winced at the thought. "No way… Does it really matter? I mean, what's so special about a Wyvern? That's just so… restricting. Like your choices are taken away from you."

"Wyverns have abilities that other dragons don't have, and are highly disciplined," Nickel chirped, happily munching on a muffin*. "They have elemental powers. Alex is life and plants. She can heal under certain circumstances and control or "feel" plants and animals. Every dragon has the basic element of fire, but being an Elemental Wyvern, you get another power of the elements. Or, if that Wyvern had the power of fire, they would be able to create much stronger fire and summon fire from not only the mouth, but hands and pretty much their whole body. They're also more strictly raised and trained. They can be brutal if they needed to be."

Lao Shi nodded. "Yes, quite right, young one." Nickel beamed at the old man happily, stuffing the last of the muffin into her mouth.

Jake glanced at Alex. "Do _you_ have a fiancé?"

Alex just looked down, a sad look on his face. Lexi shrugged. "He doesn't like talking about it – not like he could, anyways. Maybe you'll find out sooner or later."

Lao Shi shook his head. "Enough of this. We must call the Dragon Council immediately. They should be able to set things right. For now, go to our guest rooms and settle in while we get in contact with the Council. Fu Dog will show you the way."

Fu Dog hurried to help the kids, to Jake's surprise. Fu Dog would usually complain about it, at the least.

Jake opened his mouth to make some joke on it, but he immediately closed his mouth at the smothering look his grandfather gave him. When they were gone, Lao Shi whispered, "Be nice. These kids are from the Wyvern family and hold the Wyvern Crest.

"They… are royalty, to say the least. They are cruel dragons and to be _feared_."

~~xXx~~

**Present time, December 2, 2011**

Jake took a deep breath, dialing Alex's number for the first time in two long years, since the time he called in to check up on them after they left for their new, adoptive family. If he was as powerful a dragon as Gramps had claimed, maybe he could help Jake with his little problem. Sure, Gramps told Jake not to mess with Wyverns, but he really wanted a powerful dragon to help him.

"'Sup? Need a dragon, leave a message. Need me, try calling again." Alex hadn't answered. But… This number couldn't be Alex's. The voice in the answering machine was laid back and carefree. Alex was stiff and quiet. He shook the thought away and tried called Alex again, just in case. Nope. He dialed again, and Alex picked up this time.

"Yo, Fran, if this is another one of your prank calls, your luck pooped out. I already know it's you. 'Sides, only friends know to call three for me to pick up."

"Um… Alex? Is it you?" Jake asked, a little uncomfortable. Sure, he knew Alex probably would have gotten over his selective-mute condition thingy by now, but he just sounded, so… _happy_ and _cheerful_.

"Jake, that you, man? Jeez, calling to check up on me? Two years later? So what up, bro?" The voice chuckled. Jake could hear a smirk in the boy's voice.

"What… _happened?_" Jake asked, a little dumbstruck. Normally, he'd talk in slang and do that thing he always did, but he hadn't been expecting this. No, not at all. Farthest from it, actually. He'd expected someone strict and, well, more royalty-ish.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe, by some odd, foreign chance, I got a life?" He laughed.

Jake shrugged. Killjoy or life of the party, it all didn't matter to him at the moment. Alex was still a Wyvern. Therefore, powerful and, hopefully, responsible. Then again, Jake wasn't responsible, and he still got the job done, so it'd be alright if Alex wasn't, anyways.

"Well, I've got a little favor to ask of you. Rose is… erm, pregnant… I was going to ask if you can fill my job as magical protector of New York City while I'm, erm, dealing with a little change."

Alex burst into laughter on the other side. "Dude, you should have at least looked into it a little before you two crossed the border. By, _change_, are you, by any chance, saying your kid's a dragon and you're going full dragon?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. You could say that," Jake murmured, looking in the mirror again. He was a dragon, but like none he had ever seen before yesterday. He was standing on all fours, and he was BIG. He was in the huge basement of Gramp's shop so that he'd have enough room. He was the size of the Dark Dragon when they fought at the temple, and was a lot stronger than usual, too. More snappy, too. Jake nearly bit Gramp's head off when Lao Shi got near Rose.

Rose was on a bed sleeping. She hissed in pain every once in a while, a side effect of a human bearing a dragon child, Gramps had explained to him. And Jake could only watch as she suffered. He couldn't just leave her alone like this, and Gramps told him that, in the first few months of pregnancy and the moment she gave birth, he would stay a full dragon and feel over-protective over her, so it was decided that Rose would stay in the basement (which they re-designed to turn into a bedroom) with Jake until the protective instinct wore off a little. According to Gramps, dragons lost the ability to transform into a full dragon a long time ago, but the power still came up for a dragon when they were going to have a child that was also a dragon. Until said protective instinct wore off a little, he wouldn't be able to turn human at all.**

On the other side of the phone, Alex had a grin plastered all over his smug face. But he had a dark glint in his eyes as he answered.

"'Course I can fill in. I'll get a cousin to fill in for me as the Dragon of Great Britain. He'll be delighted. Ironically, he's been waiting for me to die for a year now, starting from the moment he was declared to be next in line by the Dragon Council," he snickered.

"I'll get some plane tickets. Nik, Lex, and I'll be there soon. Oh, and, is this Rose girl hot?"

Jake growled into the phone threateningly, feeling his scales heat up with embarrassment.

"Just kiddin' around with you, don't worry. Fiancé, remember?"

As soon as the call was ended, he called Nikki and Lexi into his room. Nikki rubbed her eyes as she stumbled into his room in a sky blue nightgown. She had been taking a nap and was just barely blinking out the last signs of sleep from her eyes. Lexi followed soon after, taking a seat next to her twin brother on the bed.

"It's time to pack up," he said flatly, looking at his sisters. They nodded.

"Is it…" Lexi trailed off, looking a little disappointed.

"Yeah," Alex muttered, looking away. Lexi squeezed her eyes shut, as if she didn't want to look at the truth. Nikki sighed, looking down at her fingers, which fiddled nervously.

"I was hoping we'd be able to live the rest of our lives like this, nothing like what our parents had to go to," Lexi said quietly.

"Don't worry. It'll all be over soon. Then… then there'll be no more sadness. Trust me. This is what Mom and Dad stood up for, and what your brother fought for," He said certainly, looking at Lexi, then Nikki.

"And now… This is what _we_ fight for."

~~xXx~~

**A/N: I just love keeping things hanging like that… How'd it go? Too much dialogue, I know. But I'd rather put their past in one big chapter opposed to spending half the story building up to the real plot or spreading their history in future chapters and confuse everyone. :S**

***I was going to put "Nickel chirped, happily munching on a brownie" but I remembered there're those little hot-headed magical creature guys called Brownies, and it seemed too morbid to me. It put the mental image in my head of little Nikki biting off a Brownie's head. o-e**

****I wish I could take credit for this idea. But I'm not very creative, so this idea goes to Onej6's Enemies by Blood. The story totally made me go "awww!" like the twelve year old baby I am. (I tried to change it around a lot so that it's not that similar. So only the turning into a big dragon thing and the "deal with the devil" thing, which will come up later in the story.) Again, I possess the imagination capacity to that of a Gorilla. Also, I'll be taking a lot of my ideas, character emotions, and quotes from songs. See if you can find 'em all. X3**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I was re-reading chapter one and I realized I messed up and hinted a secret that was going to be exploited later in the story! So I was yelling at myself for dat. I'm hoping no one noticed though. I want it to be a shocker. :P**

**Disclaimer: I own American Dragon: Jake Long! *smiling*…**

**...NOT *frowns***

_**Chapter 2**_

~~xXx~~

**The Sundines' Temporary Apartment**

"_WHAT?"_ Rose winced, cringing away from her furious mother. Her dad looked pretty ticked off, too. She didn't blame them. No, she _couldn't_ blame them after what she had just revealed to them.

She was at the apartment her family was renting out for the next couple of weeks. They were visiting New York hoping for a friendly winter break, full of sweet memories of before they moved to Hong Kong, and instead, their daughter comes home pregnant.

"Calm down, mom! It'll be alright. I understand the responsibility this comes with. Just… Just please try to understand," she begged, looking at her sister Lyra desperately for help. The girl just shrugged.

"Are you sure about that? A baby at sixteen is no joke, sis. I'm the same age as you, and I still haven't even started dating yet. Besides, you have to be sure that the father is willing to stay with you and help," the blond girl replied, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. Lyra was the brains of the family, and analyzed everything like some sort of processing android. Sure, she was pretty, but most of the boys tended to ignore her a lot.

"Of _course_ Jake would be willing to help! I've known him for a while now, and he isn't the type that would just turn around and leave me just like that. He's kind and sensitive, and really thinks things through, even if it doesn't look like it," she insisted.

"That's another matter to discuss. The _father_," her mom spat, obviously not accepting the news very well.

"I want to meet this boy. If he really does think things through as you say, I can't help but wonder what exactly he was _thinking through_ when he was getting you pregnant," her dad said scornfully. Rose felt her face heated up, clearly embarrassed.

"Dad… Anyways, he's pretty busy. You probably won't get to meet him for the next two months or so," she said sheepishly, wondering how her parents would react if they DID see him now – fifteen feet tall with scales and a tail to match.

Rose's mom just shook her head angrily, rubbing her temples. She looked pretty frustrated. "A boyfriend that's too busy to be there to help you pull through all this, Rose? Is that was you call _'kind_ and _sensitive'_?"

Lyra just looked at Rose with a worried look. After some thought, she stood up from across the table and left her parents to sit next to Rose. "Mom, dad, I think Rose might be ready for this. She's responsible and she has a strong heart. I think she's capable of making the right choices," She said slowly, as if putting each word into consideration before actually saying it out loud. Rose sent her sister a grateful glance, and Lyra found Rose's hand under the dining room table and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Their dad's defense fell first as he sighed and hung his head in reluctant defeat. He really hated scolding his children, even if one of them ran off and got themselves pregnant, then stayed away at who-knows-where for a week before returning to break the news to him. Sure, any sane father would be over-protective of their own daughter and interrogate her for the address of the boy or something, but he wasn't that type of man. He was usually laid back and had an easy-going personality, and he personally hated these sorts of things.

After a bit more reassuring and telling their mother Rose would be smart about this, their mom backed off too, though still a little wary of the boy Rose simply named as "Jake". She refused to give away his last name, promising they would get to know everything about him once he met them face to face.

Rose rubbed the back of her neck, a bit unsure, before adding, "And, I'll also have to go for a couple of months. I'll visit often and everything, but I won't be living here until around the time of when Jake will be available to meet you. And because of this, we'll have to stay here for at least nine months. I'd rather the baby was born here, so we should get us enrolled into Fillmore High School ASAP." Silently, she added in her head, _if I didn't stay near him, Jake would probably have a nervous breakdown. Lao Shi explained that if I'm away from him for too long when the protective instinct is still so strong, Jake's instincts would take over and he'd do everything possible to get near me again._ But if she told her parents that, she wouldn't be able to keep Jake's secret without making up more lies, and it was pretty pointless, anyways. This business with dragon instincts was so complicated. And what was she supposed to tell her parents when they find out their daughter was born in an egg?

Rose's mom just sighed. "Email every day and call every week, okay? Miss one day and we're calling the police to report a missing child. Not even joking. Until we see this Jake boy and get to know him more, we're not taking any risks."

Rose smiled, and then leaned across the table to give her mom and dad a quick hug. "Thanks for understanding, mom. And not asking questions. This is something I can't tell you yet."

"Figured as much," The woman smiled back. They were interrupted when Rose's cell phone rung from Rose's pocket. She glanced at the caller ID and immediately flipped the phone open.

As soon as she put the phone to her ear, there was a crash and a ferocious roar from the background, and a string of curses in angry Chinese. Rose mentally flinched at the old man's choice of words, she was getting to understand Chinese pretty well now, but she was starting to wish she hadn't.

"_I-yah, Jake! That was an expensive vase!"_ He shouted in the background after his little rant. He got back onto the phone, sighing. "You'd better get here now. Jake is starting to panic. If you don't get here now, he will no longer hold back from tearing the shop down."

"Got it. I was just finishing up there, I'll get going now," she replied quickly, closing the phone. She unhooked her coat from the coat hanger, and then shot her family an apologetic look. "I have to go now. I'll call you once I get there." And with that, she closed the door and raced down the hall to the elevator in a rush.

Lyra stared at the door, slowly standing up before taking a coat as well. As she opened the door, her mom grabbed her arm to hold her back and asked, a little worried, "Who was on the phone, Lyra? What was the person saying?"

The girl blinked, weighing her options. She heard every word exchanged over the phone, being right next to Rose when she answered. Whoever this "Jake" was didn't exactly sound mentally stable. And, if her memory proved correct, Jake was the name of that crazy boy that stalked Rose a couple years ago back in Hong Kong. The entire week after that, she started going outside a lot more, claiming she was hanging out with "friends". At the time, she didn't think much of it, but now things were starting to piece together. She didn't know how this Jake could suddenly switch from "weird stalker" to "boyfriend" on Rose's list, but she couldn't just betray Rose like that. She had a duty, as a sister, to be by her side. She would go check up on Rose to make sure Jake wasn't some crazy boy threatening her into lies, but in the meanwhile, she had to lie to her parents.

"I think it was that Jake boy she was talking about," she said, smiling innocently. "He seemed pretty nice. He asked her if she was busy. He told her he had a special surprise for her and he wanted for her to see it as soon as possible."

Her mother frowned uncertainly, not completely believing her daughter, even if Lyra was the smart, sensible one of the two. "Are you sure? I could've sworn Rose looked a bit nervous…"

"Of _course _I'm sure, mom. Don't worry; do you honestly think I'd lie to you?" Her mother smiled back cluelessly, completely falling for the excuse now. After all, Lyra _was_ the more responsible one.

Lyra smirked as she closed the door behind her. "Easy as pie. Now for the important stuff – getting Rose out of whatever mess she's gotten herself into this time."

~~xXx~~

**John F. Kennedy International Airport**

"_WHOO! Alex in the NYC, yo!" _A boy with white hair grinned, bags in hand. A little girl with copper-colored hair stood behind him, clutching onto the boy's jacket as she looked around shyly. A girl with light blond hair tried to calm him down, but so far the results weren't very good.

Susan Long stood with her mouth open in disbelief. This could not _possibly _be true. But their descriptions matched perfectly. These were the famous Wyvern twins and their adopted sister, Nickel. The ones that caused so much commotion back then with the Dragon Council. The one her dad, Lao Shi, told her to be wary and on her guard around.

"What's wrong, honeybu—oh my, is that… them?" Jonathon Long asked. They just stood there for a while, the aura the kids carrying totally catching them off their guards. Hayley curiously walked over to see what her parents were so shocked by.

"Mom? Dad? What's wrong, did you fi—oh no, you have got to be kidding me, mom!" Alex was now laughing as people stared at him oddly. He had sunglasses on, and was dragging the two girls around. The youngest girl looked like she would die of embarrassment, while the girl around Alex's age was trying to slow the snowy-haired boy down. She guessed they were his sisters, Nickel and Lexi.

But the scariest thing was—he was like another _Jake, _but worse. There was a skateboard under one of his arms, he just looked so freaking _full _of himself, and he was walking with a lopsided grin. Ugh, that _grin!_ It immediately infuriated Haley. It was the grin Jake always wore when he thought he was all that, the one he wore when he thought he was so smooth with the girls.

But she composed herself and attempted to smile, and walked up to the trio, asking politely, "Are you Alex Wyvell?"

The boy pulled his sunglasses down a bit, looking at her with bright red eyes, sparkling with cheerfulness and enthusiasm.

"Nooo, of _course_ I'm not Alex Wyvell. I'm Chuck Norris's twin bro. Can't ya see the resemblance?" He smirked, sparking a flash of dislike in Haley. He was just, so… so _frustrating! _So _Jake!_

At that moment, Haley's eyes met Nickel's, and a moment of understanding passed between them. This was going to be a _long _nine months. Call it preteen intuition.

~~xXx~~

Rose ran as fast as she could, pushing herself as hard as she could. Thankfully, Rose had asked for an apartment near Canal Street, so that she could meet up with Jake more easily, since he was there most of the time anyways. Therefore, it was only a few blocks away. Behind her followed Lyra, never letting Rose out of her sight as she walked at a rushed pace half a block behind her sister. Thankfully, as well as being the smarter one, she was also more physically fit. Ironic, since Rose was the "evil two-faced dragon-slaying ninja she-witch"* of the two. But in return, Rose was sly and quick, and clever in a way that was different from smarts.

When she got to Canal Street Electronics, Rose flung the door open, running in. Lao Shi was nowhere to be seen, and she realized the two dragons were still in the basement when she felt the ground shake. She quickly found her way to the door leading to the basement and hesitantly opened it.

"Jake? Lao Shi?" she found herself taking an involuntary step back at the wild roar coming from the basement. She shook off the feeling of dread the roar struck in her and walked down the stairs. When she got there, the sight wasn't pretty. Lao Shi, in his dragon form, was caught under Jake. The room was literally flipped over. The desk lay on the other side of the room in splinters, the bed was turned to its side, and almost everything was in ruins. Scorch marks turned the lavender walls black, and the drawer was nowhere to be seen.

"Jake! I'm here! Don't worry. Leave Lao Shi alone, Jake. I'm safe." Rose felt herself shake a bit when the dragon's gaze fell on Rose. There was a half-crazed look in the red dragon's eyes that made Rose flinch.

"R-Rose?" the crazy look in his eyes melted away to relief, then confusion. He got off of Lao Shi, looking around.

"Oh God… Oh no, I'm so sorry, Gramps!" he said guiltily, backing up. "I don't know what got over me!"

Lao Shi shook his head, though he looked a little shaken up as well. There were scratch marks all over the dragon's body. "It was not your fault, young dragon. Rose was gone too long for your comfort. It's a shame the room was ruined, however."

Fu Dog peeked out from his hiding place behind the ruined desk, a worried look on the old Shar Pei's face.

"Hey, gramps, I think there're more important stuff to deal with than a new paint job," he said, looking up the stairs. As Rose turned around, her eyes went wide.

On the top of the staircase, her face a chalky white color, was Rose's twin sister, Lyra. She stumbled down the stairs, eyes rapidly moving around the room as if she had trouble processing the image that lay before her eyes. First they looked at Lao Shi, who was still in his dragon form. Then, they fell on Fu Dog, with Jake following soon after. Then, Lyra's vision settled on Rose. No one dared move.

"Well, this is certainly awkward," Fu Dog muttered. This was all too much for the poor girl. Rose fell forward to catch her sister as Lyra fainted, muttering something about talking dogs and too much sugar in her coffee.

~~xXx~~

After Lyra's conscious slipped away, Jake put the bed back upright, although it was a little hard with him now needing to stand on all fours. They placed Lyra on said bed so that she could rest. Soon after, they called Spud over to help with the damage.

"So, you want me to try and put everything back to normal with my magic?" he asked, waving his wand around as if to emphasize what he was saying. "Sorry, man, but it might not exactly work out. I think you're forgetting I've only been learning for a few months. Or was it a few years? Or, or maybe I actually don't know magic and this was all a hallucination!" he said, slightly going into hysterics.

Jake sighed. Over the span of two years, it didn't look like Spud had changed at all. Same care-free attitude, same level of irresponsibility… nothing about him was different. It was almost like his brain was defying time, while everyone else was being forced to move ahead. When they were all old and their immaturity left them, Spud would still have that level of silliness in him. It was one of the many things that Jake envied.

"I know, Spud. I could've asked Nigel to do it for us, but we're not exactly very close. And besides, we're best buds. I was hoping you could maybe do this for us," Jake replied a bit sheepishly. But he knew Spud could do it. Spud's trainer, his own dad, was always bragging about how amazing his son was doing, considering he'd only been trained for a few months. They say he would soon be better than Nigel, who'd been training for a couple years now.

Spud sighed. He waved his wand around uninterestedly, and everyone watched in awe as objects brought themselves together to recreate all their belongings and stored themselves back in their rightful places.

When everything was back to normal, Jake grinned at Spud. "Right on, bro! That was sweet!"

The boy just shrugged, saying glumly, "Nigel could've done it better," and disappeared in a wisp of black smoke before Jake could cheer him up. He always seemed to compare himself to Nigel, even if Nigel was much more experienced.

Rose was sitting beside Lyra, sighing. Jake looked at Lyra curiously. She looked just like Rose at first glance. Lyra had, just like Rose, waist length blonde hair, flawless skin, and, strangely, the same style of clothing. And, as Jake had noted before, she even had the same baby blue eyes as Rose. The one major difference was that Rose had the birthmark, while Lyra didn't.

~~xXx~~

Lyra began to stir awake, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. The worried blue eyes of her twin sister met Lyra's eyes first.

"Rose? Wha-what _happened?_" she asked, rubbing her eyes. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion when Rose looked down at her guiltily.

"Hey, Rose, is she awake?" a voice asked from behind Rose. When Lyra tried to look around Rose to see the speaker, Rose moved in front of her to block vision, smiling nervously.

"Rose…" Lyra growled threateningly.

"Yeah?" Rose said, groaning. Lyra snorted.

"Move aside. It's not that hard sis."

Rose sighed dejectedly, shaking her head. "Okay…" she mumbled. "You probably won't like what you see, though."

And Rose was right. What Lyra saw went against everything she believed as she grew up. Even as a child, even if her parents tried to put fairytales and fantasies in her head, she would reject them and such. She simply didn't believe in happily ever after, or even true love at first sight. She believed in taxes and economy failures. She didn't believe unicorns or fairies could exist. She believed science and equations could, though. You could say she was a negative child, but she just didn't want to have to have her heart shattered when she grew out of such things and realized they didn't exist.

"Lyra? Well, I should properly introduce you to my boyfriend... This is Jake Long. He's a... a dragon," Rose said quietly, indicating towards Jake.

And here, before her, was the very thing she refused to believe in, a dragon, and a _big_ one at that. She refused to believe it. A huge mutant reptile or a new breed of animal? Maybe, _just_ maybe. But a dragon? No.

"Umm… Are you alright?" The dragon asked after a while of silence. Oh God, it wasn't just a _big_ dragon. No, fate was too cruel. They just had to spring a big_, talking_ dragon onto the girl.

Rose put a hand on Lyra's when she noticed her sister seemed to be panicking. "Calm down, Ra," she said quietly. "I can explain. But, no matter what, you can't tell anyone about Jake. Not mom, not dad, no one. Just trust me on this. They aren't ready for this. Actually, I don't think _any _of them will _ever _ready for this."

Lyra took deep breaths. There had to be a reasonable explanation for this. Otherwise, it wouldn't even be possible for this to be happening. Lyra nodded. "A-alright. Spring it on me now. Tell me. _Everything_. Don't you _dare _leave out a single detail, got it sis?"

Rose laughed dryly. "Wouldn't dream of it, Lyra.

"Now… Where to begin? Maybe from how I was kidnapped at birth? Or how I'm living an alternate life that shouldn't exist?"

~~xXx~~

**A/N: I have to say, this was an enjoyable chapter to write. But I'm nowhere **_**near**_** the exciting parts. You'd be surprised to see how evil I could be when it comes to mercilessly killing off precious characters. But, hey, what can I say? Darkness is my specialty, and insanity is my game. =D**

**Anyways…. Does anyone have any suggestions? Or have a character I can use in my story? I'll be adding in a lot of magical characters later on in the story, but you won't see why until the story nears its end. **

**This is totally random, but I've noticed that no one really commented on the quote in the summary. Did no one feel like the quote sounded familiar? I, ironically, read it on a comment on YouTube, for a video I totally forgot the name of. All I remember that it was an AMV for a cartoon where the main character becomes evil. And I liked it, and after a quick visit to the land of Google, found out it was actually from… *cue dramatic music* …BATMAN! Yup, the Dark Knight. Just a little fun fact. So just not that I didn't make up that quote. **

***Haha, Spud reference from "The Academy". Couldn't help it. :P**


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